WASHINGTON, Feb 14: Clandestine US intelligence operatives have been working in deep cover within India to help track down Al Qaeda operatives and other terrorist groups, media reports said on Tuesday.

Relying largely on human intelligence, the operatives worked with paid agents and sought to infiltrate militant groups in various parts of India, particularly in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

According to the reports, Indo-US intelligence cooperation “scaled unprecedented heights” following an attack on the Indian parliament three months after 9/11.

Quoting intelligence and congressional sources, one report said intelligence cooperation between New Delhi and Washington had moved beyond the stationing of a few officers of the CIA or FBI agents in the US embassy or consulates.

“While CIA and FBI agents continue to work with India’s Research and Analysis Wing and the Central Bureau of Intelligence, there was now, at a much deeper level, clandestine operatives working incognito within the country,” the report said.